Collinsport. A shocking assault on the streets of Collinsport as just taken place. Marshal, having arrived in search of his friend Meili Rainheart, has just watched from afar as Narcissa Snow, a homicidal paranoid schizophrenic, has just unexpectedly stabbed her brother, Elijah Snow. Marshal is now aware that the ghastly crimes committed at the Cranshaw House were not done by the necromancer Simon Orne, but by a young woman with a carving knife. He now must inform his friends, Rhyaad de’Annar and Meili Rainheart before the woman strikes again.

The dull city scene played out beneath a hidden male, hooded and watching well above the rooftops as an occasional person moved through the snow. Squatted down and only half-aware of himself among the thoughts he idled the moments by as he thought over the events of only a few hours ago. They had rescued a woman who was either a half-victim or conveniently so, but either way apparently evil. He barely understood even what the current situation entailed or who the woman really was in truth, all of it left his head spinning and unpleasantly throbbing. In his head he quietly reminded himself that someone would eventually explain it, or they’d just start interrogating the woman as a criminal, which made it marginally less irritating to mull over. The blond slowly rose from his place to let himself down slightly, snow falling from the ledge, and slides off from the tiles of the rooftop to a floor below. He needed to just keep moving and keep himself busy so as not to think too much.

“Dumb stupid motherf**king dumb stupid. How dare I want it to be easy!” No life signs, no sign of the insane girl that had run off. Or rather, too many life signs, he couldn’t find her amongst everyone else. Continuing to creep down alleys and stalk roads, especially while holding out his sonic blaster, was going to probably attract unwanted attention as the night progressed. Luckily the snowfall had reduced the number of people out tonight. At least he tagged the car. “Waste my time…and that’s an achievement for me…” Marshall mumbled as he decided he was going to walk back towards his ship, not realizing he was less than a half dozen meters from Meili, whom in his distracted state he did not notice.

Rhyaad had walked the streets for over an hour now, hiding his dimly glowing eyes behind the tinted glasses he wore at night. He cursed himself for his own stupidity, taking random chances that he might find a man who was not a man, but nowhere he had looked had he found anyone resembling Pickman. Finally he gave up and wandered back in the direction of the Inn.

“Ugh…Things.” Meili muttered, then dropped down from the edge of a roof onto an alleyway below. “Too many things.” He grumbled and turned the corner out into the streets. The blond shuffled through the snowy streets idly, remarkably keeping his presence completely inconspicuous through- what a trained eye would recognize as- extremely practiced use of body language and attention to the flow of people moving about. Meili never bothered to let his hood down as he preferred to keep his face hidden in step. The blond wandered out through the business sections, eventually stopping before a small music shop to glance inward fondly. A proud, elegant violin was on display in the window that filled him with a fond reverie of times now long passed.

Rhyaad brushed snow from the wooden seat and sat on the park bench before the Inn for a while, contemplating his next move. Should he call Meili and ask if he had found anything? This whole case was so frustrating: never knowing what to do.

As the Marshal continued to walk about the town, he sighed, holstering his sidearm. He clearly was not going to find the girl tonight; he was wasting time and energy. He should go find Meili . . . and, speaking of that, Meili happened to be standing not five meters away! His back was turned, looking into the window of a music shop, apparently at a violin. Smiling at encountering Meili, which always made him feel better, he decided to silently creep behind him, hoping he could surprise him just a little bit when he would suddenly speak. “Do you like the Violin?” He’d say, once he was inches away from Meili, just behind him.

“Your boots clicked,” Meili snickered through a nearly audible smirk. “Points for trying, but you’re a soldier, not a stealth operative.” The blond shrugged off the question and idled into a vague sort of pause. “…It’s a fond reminder.”

Rhyaad tired of just sitting there, and got up to walk back to the Nightingale, which was at the edge of town. He’d pass by that music store that had the old violin in the window, the one that reminded him of times past. Somehow, it seemed the world was more simple then, and men also more simple. The evil and the good. Now, everyone was a liar, in this century of life based on deception and obfuscation of true goals. “Give me a real kiss, or a real stab, but let it be real.”, he muttered.

“Well…your hood is ridiculous. It’s not even raining. You’re not a doctor. You’re not a scientist. You’re not even a full time employee. Where did your head wear go so wrong?” Marshall said, as he did he laughed aloud and moved to put his hands around Meili’s shoulder. “Well, at least it keeps people remembering you…so…you want it?” He said, gesturing in. “Accounts have been building interest for around seventy years, I’ll get it for you…or…oh! I have a better idea…” As he said this, he put his hand up to his chin… “Hmmm….”

Rhyaad’s walk would take him to the long street where the shop was, and in the distance he saw two figure standing outside. In his aural vision, he instantly recognized the alien aura. It could be only one of two people he knew. And as he drew closer he could make out the Marshall’s green coat, and the figure so cloaked in black was Meili. He just kept walking, neither trying to hide nor announce himself, yet his boots somehow made not a sound, even on the pavement. He moved with the grace and stealth of a cat, with a walk humans thought “sexy”, until they recognized it was the same walk as the predator.

“Clearly, you have never had any training in stealth. A simple hood can mean the difference between getting away with a heist and being captured in mere minutes.” The blond scoffed and rolled his eyes at the bizarre accusations he was being leveled with. “Regardless of weather patterns, as long as you maintain a low profile and understand how to move without attracting attention to yourself the best way to maintain stealth is to -hide- your face.” The blond sighed in irritation as he was embraced, somewhat less than pleased with being insulted for a professional behavior, but ignored the feeling. “Besides, if I honestly wanted to, I could just use some projection to make myself completely obvious. No one would bat an eye or notice me even if I was right in front of them because I would make my very presence something completely obvious and expected. Hide perfectly in plain sight.”

Rhyaad changed his direction subtly, and his movements as well. Remembering those moves, the old, old moves, he crept up silently, downwind. His feet still made not the slightest noise, his lips moving slowly in a silent mime of a very ancient Elvish spell. His body then faded also from sight, and he crept on, invisibly.

“The hood doesn’t exactly blend in, if you keep wearing it . . . it will be as distinctive as your face. It’s like wearing the same green jacket every day,” He chuckled, describing exactly what he did, “Even if you have a half dozen identical ones, people start to notice it.” Noticing the somewhat powerful presence of a mind of a vampire wasn’t difficult for him, but expecting that it was likely just Rhyaad, as it also was the familiar forcefulness of an Elf, he didn’t react, but continued to stand with Meili. “Forget that violin then, I should get you a nicer gift…when this is over, I’ll take you to the 1680s, and I will find for you Antonio Stradivarius, and get him to make you the most beautiful violins you’ve ever seen.” He smiled a bit, looking down at Meili, “Would that make you happy?” He wasn’t just trying to woo Meili, once Gregory told him what he heard, happiness might be in short supply for Meili.

Rhyaad began to shift directions, randomizing his motions rather than a straight-line approach. Too bad they couldn’t actually see his cat like moves, like a feline predator moving in for the kill.

“A-antonio Stradiva- A Stradivarius? Are you joking? That’s cruel!” Meili turned to look at the male with an extremely shocked and entirely delighted expression at the very thought. “A Stradivarius…The prestige, the legendary quality, the absolute honor of owning one of history’s greatest works of art…” He trailed off dreamily at the thought, a very obvious sign that it would fill him with a profound and deep joy.

Rhyaad smiled at Meili’s distraction as he moved in close. How close could he get before Greg might do something? Best to make it a few feet, right behind Meili.

“Yup…Sherlock Holmes had one…it’s settled, then.” He smiled, “My gift to you, to brighten a depressing time. You can even meet him if you want,” The Marshal smiled, looking down at Meili, his hand still around his shoulders…He was so happy to have made Meili so pleased, the look in the blonde’s eyes told him how much he’d love it…he was even debating trying to kiss Meili right there, but knew Meili wasn’t ready for that. It didn’t matter, because immediately something was horribly wrong, instincts, reflexes, and muscle memory took over as he suddenly pulled Meili back, attempting to put himself between Meili and whoever was approaching, drawing his sidearm and intending to fire if whatever presence was stalking them didn’t reveal itself. No doubt the sudden movements would shock Meili, but he was just reacting at this point.

“G-gregory, wha-” Meili flinched as he was pulled close, recognizing the difference between spontaneous action and reflexive instinct.

The Romani’s eyes shot about quickly to scan the area near them.

Just as they turned to stare…

Reaching his chosen place, right behind the Roma, Rhyaad suddenly let out a loud ***BOO***, and in so doing faded back into view.

No sooner had the vampire shouted at them then several throwing knives flew out from under Meili’s coat and hovered around him. As soon as he caught sight of Rhyaad, however, his gaze shifted from defensive instinct to mild irritation. “…You REALLY shouldn’t do that.”

Shouting and trying to startle them turned out to be a horrible idea. Rhyaad managed to avoid being shot at, but only narrowly. In fact, as soon as Rhyaad appeared Gregory DID pull the trigger, but at the last possible split of a second he moved the pistol to the left, a green blast of energy from he blaster shrieking past him quite loudly, while Gregory’s face became red with anger.

“HEY! IT’s ME!” Rhyaad shouted. “No knives or ray guns please! I just couldn’t resist…. hearing you two arguing about stealth. I thought for ONCE I’d try being demonstrative. Showing off just a bit of what a millennial vampire can do.”

“The difference was, I knew he’d find me anyway, I didn’t even bother to put a noise dampener up. You went the whole route, and you could have been anything.” He was still enraged as he holstered his sidearm for the second time this night, having come very close to shooting Rhyaad in the face. In truth, he was probably more upset that his moment with Meili had been so disrupted, in such a way, and that he had thought Meili had been in danger. “It’s good your hear, I have things to tell you both.”

“I’m sorry, Gregory. I acted foolishly.” Rhyaad nodded his head. “Yet, just how many old vampires are about? And….” a small grin found its way to his face as he added. “Sorry I disturbed your moment.” With that grin, it was obvious he referred to the almost-kiss he might have planted on Meili

“Shh, quiet.” He said, dismissively. “Come on this way, I have memories to share with you,” He said, taking Meili lightly by the arm and gesturing for Rhyaad to follow, wanting to bring them towards an alley to speak with them privately. “I learned important things,”

“This doesn’t sound like a very familiar proposal at all.” The blond rolled his eyes, unpleasantly reminded of his frequently casual sexual encounters.

“So you said”, Rhyaad nodded. What important things?” He could not resist joining in the general banter though. “Or are you just seeking to lure us into an alley where you might have your way with us?” He gave that tiny little smile again.

: “No, both of you stand still.” Once they reached the alley, he stood between the two of them. “I’m going to show you what I saw, put my memories into your mind of an encounter I had less than n hour ago.” And with that, and no other warnings, his hand descended to slap the back of both of their heads hard, sending a flurry fo memories, arranged in order (log), into their minds.

“YEE!” Rhyaad cried out. “What was th….” then he stopped, trying to digest the information that had come in such a sudden burst. “Blair didn’t kill them…. Narcissa Snow…. the trapezohedron…. Oh, the Starry Wisdom Church is the real enemy.”

“Yes.”

“I’m still confused… who has the Trapezohedron? We must get it. We must not let the Snows get that object.”

“I dont know. The TARDIS index suggests it’s a device to summon the Trickster. This alien who is likely an avatar of Nyarlathotep. Either way, I suggest we give the names to the human military and have the Snows quietly disappear, and be done with it.”

“The gem can be used to summon Nyarlathotep himself, not just an avatar. If they get it…. no, that is not something we should allow to happen. But the regular military doesn’t even know of such things. I have already told almost everything to Chief St. Clair. She is secretly an operative of Delta Green. I wonder why their team isn’t here already.” Rhyaad said.

“After aliens and cybermen, this wont be that big of a stretch. Your also forgetting how many people I know on Earth, it’s not live this is my first visit.”

“We need the pieces in this game, Gregory. Capture the right pieces. If we have Lillian Snow, and Pickman, and the Trapezohedron, they can’t do anything. And… the gem can also be used to trap N-tep. And I’ll wager Dr. Praetorius was once a man such as Blair or the Starry Wisdom magicians. Hell, he said as much. We must capture all these pieces, stop the worshippers of Nyarlathotep, and then take the Trapezohedron to Dr. Praetorius and force him to stop Nyarlathotep himself. Put him back in his jewel. He can only come out of it when it is in total darkness. That’s where you come in, Gregory. You can use your TARDIS thing to drop the thing into the sun. That will fix ol’ Nyarlathotep’s ass for a least a few billion years.”

“Temporary, but adequate. So we should capture and interrogate them.”

“Pickman. We should capture Pickman. Your TARDIS…. does it have sensors like in that Star Trek show? Could you ‘detect’ a ghoul?” Meili asks.

“Yes, it can differentiate between life forms. If their different than humans, I can probably detect them unless they jam it or can actively hide.”

“Actively hide? What does that mean? They usually live underground. But Pickman plans to meet the Snows. He must be in town already. We just don’t know where he is.” Rhyaad admits.

“You made yourself invisible, for example. A personal cloaking device is another.

“Cloaking device? You mean like the Romulans? Are there really Romulans?” Rhyaad asked curiously. “But no, these creatures are more like animals than men, they would not have high technology. Magic? Yes. But can he make himself invisible? That I do not know.”

“Well find out, now I have to check in with some people, get the military involved, call the President.”

Cue Music End of Episode